All the way to the station, Brenda couldn’t stop thinking about the FaceTime call that had gone garbled and broke up. Not so much that she was worried about Drew’s safety, but what it meant for digital communications between Shepardsport and the rest of the three worlds.
And then she arrived at the front office and knew something very serious was going on. It wasn’t unusual to find a tech or two from IT working on something around here. Just about everything they were using was old stuff, and a lot of it had been repurposed in quirky ways to adapt it for audio streaming.
But to find the Head of Information Technology and two of her senior department heads in here — no, this was not a good sign. Especially the way they were talking among themselves in low voices.
Which raised the question of whether she should greet them as she came in, or just hurry past as quietly as possible so she didn’t disturb their concentration. Cindy wasn’t in yet, but given the situation with Kitty and her friend Amy down on Earth, it was possible she was otherwise occupied. Autumn had made it clear that Cindy was to be excused if Amy or her siblings needed an advocate.
And if that friend of hers is getting static from the child welfare people, she may end up needing a lot more advocacy than a teenager can provide. Heck, I’m not sure how serious they’d take me. Sure, I’m married and have two kids, but I’m still young compared to the average Houston mom. We grow up early here on the High Frontier.
Even as she was considering what to do, Steffi noticed her. “Hello, Brenda. Since you’re a little early for your air shift,” a significant glance at the clock behind the receptionist’s desk, “could you hold on for a moment?”
“Sure. What seems to be the problem?” Although Brenda was trying to keep her voice firm and professional, she couldn’t entirely suppress a little nervous quaver. That old fear that she would be in trouble for something.
“We’re having some network issues. I know your husband is posted at Slayton Field, so I was wondering if you could try to contact him.”
“I have.” Brenda explained about their attempt to FaceTime. “At first it seemed to be connecting fine, but all of a sudden it got really super-slow, like you get when you’re trying to talk with someone on a spacecraft that’s heading off to Mars. And then everything broke up, and I couldn’t connect again.”
All three IT people exchanged glances, nods of agreement. But there was nothing happy about their expressions, which meant they were recognizing that something very serious was going on.
Hardly surprising, after the cyber attack on the landers at Slayton Field. Drew had never talked much about it, which was unusual for a Shep, and suggested that it had been a particularly traumatic experience for him.
A bit of quick conferring with colleagues, and Steffi turned back to Brenda. “We’ve been thinking this was some kind of DDOS attack, since it seems to be blocking traffic with Earth. However, I’m starting to wonder if we’re dealing with a worm.”
Brenda had a basic idea of network security — everybody did, for the simple reason that everyone was at risk from having their critical accounts hacked by one or another kind of scammer. However, she wasn’t necessarily all that strong on the finer details of what distinguished different types of malware and cyber-attacks.
On the other hand, she did have a good sense of what might affect her air shift, which was rapidly coming up. “Then we’re going to be having trouble transmitting…” She gestured toward the DJ booth and the studios for pre-recording interviews and similar programs.
“If you’re worried about whether you’ll be able to do your air shift, we still have normal connectivity within Shepardsport,” a nod to the stereo behind the receptionist’s desk, which was playing the current livestream, “and the outlying settlements that are connected by overland cable to it. People here in town are depending on the station, so don’t let them down.”
With the time for hand-off getting close, there was nothing further for Brenda to do but thank Steffi and hurry back to start up Breakfast With the Beatles. Even a cup of coffee would have to wait for her first long set.